13 Thoughts On Warehouse 13 2.6: Around The Bend

Oh no! The Warehouse crew are falling apart and the show’s turning into a much more generic thriller… or is it? Yes, this week’s Warehouse 13 was a mindgame about a mindgame. Here’re 13 Mindgamey thoughts about it.

1. Pete Has A Terrible Taste In Music. I can’t be the only one who, when the show cut from Pete yelling that it was on to a montage of him packing while a terrible rock song played, wondered what the hell had happened to the show’s normal way of doing things – a thought that came back when the sex scene started. While I was sure that things weren’t as they seemed, I didn’t think of the possibility that everything was all in Pete’s mind – which does mean that Pete apparently sees the world as a really shittily cliched television show. Still, well-played, Warehouse-makers.

2. But, Wait, What Was Real And What Wasn’t? So, Pete’s hallucinations started at the very open of the episode, I get that, but does that mean everything from that point on until the Myka/Kate reveal was skewed in some way? I wish there’d been some kind of explanation by episode’s end, because…

3. What’s With The Regents, Yo?* …I have no idea if Benedict Valda really dropped into the Warehouse to give everyone into trouble and announce that there’d be more of a “hands-on” management style from that point on, or whether he was there for some other reason and what we saw was Pete’s paranoia kicking in. I hope it’s the former, because then I might begin to understand exactly what the Regents are all about. Do they really make sense to anyone else, beyond being the shadowy guys behind the Warehouse?

(* – I know, I know; I’m too Scottish to say “Yo.” Let’s all agree I said it ironically.)

4. Of Course Pete Went Insane. I mean, it’s not like Myka ever gets an episode to herself unless it’s to point out that she doesn’t feel pretty enough… Or that Claudia gets a plot that isn’t about her boyfriend troubles… Okay, Artie doesn’t get much screentime beyond playing grumpy father and/or troubled veteran who regrets what he’s done in his career so far, but that somewhat ruins my “For a show with so many female characters, Warehouse 13‘s plots are somewhat sexist” theory. Nonetheless: Pete is a good character, but he’s not the only one in the show, people. Mix it up a bit, please?

5. Of Course Pete Went Insane. That said, Pete going (temporarily) insane touched on the plot point raised last week… that agents don’t tend to make it through their Warehouse careers without disaster. Wonder if that’s coincidence or foreshadowing?

6. A Random Thought. We know of at least one former Agent who’s gone insane, and one who’s gone evil, as well as countless artifacts that have at various points gone missing from the Warehouse for various reasons. So why is it only now that the Regents are starting to crack down on the Warehouse staff? I don’t know if that’s a plot hole or more proof that Valda didn’t actually say what we say him say.

7. To Be Fair, “Benedict Valda” Sounds Like A Badguy. You really have to forgive Pete for thinking that Valda was out to destroy the Warehouse. I mean, beyond that “he was artificially paranoid because of an artifact, even though even when the artifact was neutralized he was still paranoid because of the sound of the tapping and is that just unclear writing for fake jeopardy or another Doctor Who reference (Think “The Sound of Drums”)” thing; after all, he had a bad guy name – Apologies to any real life Benedict Valdas out there who may not be evil – and was played by the typecast-as-morally-dubious Mark Sheppard. I would’ve suspected him, too.

8. More Proof That Benedict Valda May Actually Be Evil. Have you seen Leena since he came in to check on whether or not MacPherson was living in her brain? I think you know what I’m saying.

9. No Todd Fallout? While I’m talking about apparently forgotten subplots, seriously, there was nothing more than a line about Claudia getting dumped by Todd this week? Did that subplot really not lead anywhere at all?

10. So, About Those Donovan Contingencies… Okay, so there are apparently written-down schemes to neutralize Claudia and, if Artie’s to be believed, all the other Warehouse agents, and that feeds into the whole thing about agents meeting sticky ends, as well as the Regents becoming more active behind the scenes. Is it just me, or is this season really getting into the idea that Myka and Pete have really, really crappy bosses? Are we going to end up wanting the two of them to go rogue because they’re more altruistic than the Regents?

11. Mrs. Frederick Is Batman. “If I was [here to kill you], you’d be dead and I’d be halfway to dinner,” she says, and then disappears mid-sentence without a noise. Yes, Mrs. Frederick is totally Batman. She’s probably the one who came up with the Donovan Contingencies, “Tower of Babel”-style.

12. Well, That Was Reset Anyone‘s Neural Pathways. Whoever came up with the idea that the original studio masters of “Oye Como Va” could undo the effects of the artifact is either a genius or a really big Santana fan. I’m leaning towards the former, even if I don’t really understand why it didn’t work. But then, I’m not entirely clear on why neutralizing the artifact didn’t work, either, beyond “for dramatic effect.”

13. HG Wells Is Back Next Week, Finally. Maybe now we’ll find out what her plan is, and why she’s been gone for so long after her first appearance at the start of the season. Not to mention what MacPherson’s plan was, all along. And where Leena’s been. And what Todd was all about. Hey, I can hope, right…?